BJP's efforts to form a government in Kerala is completely swamped out as the LDF has received an overwhelming response in the state by the people. Contesting elections for the first time, Metroman' E Sreedharan who was fielded by the BJP lost to Shafi Parambil of the Congress by margin of 3859 votes in Palakkad.
Earlier in the day when the counting began, E Sreedharan was leading from the constituency. BJP had hoped to get the benefit from their undeclared Chief Ministerial face, Sreedharan's candidature.
This was a seat held by the UDF since 2011. BJP was pinning hopes on its increasing vote share in the constituency, which comprises Palakkad Municipality and is one of the two civic bodies in which the BJP is in power in the state.
Chasing victory, CM Pinarayi Vijayan said both the Congress-led UDF and BJP-NDA and a section of the "right wing" media were trying to tarnish the image of the government and its development and welfare programmes, he said the people have rejected their 'vicious propaganda' by giving the Left a decisive mandate.
Senior BJP leaders made announcements even on the formation of the government after the elections. They also indicated that they were going to garner several seats in Kerala," Vijayan said.
He said these leaders carried out a campaign in this regard through the media too and it was at this juncture that LDF said they would ensure BJP lost its lone seat in Kerala.
However, BJP state chiefK Surendran cited "communal polarisation" as the reason for the party's drubbing and said there was a conscious attempt to ensure the BJP-NDA did not succeed.
"We could not win the expected seats. There was a polarisation of Muslim votes in constituencies where the NDA was pinning hopes. There was communal polarisation in Nemom, Palakkad and Manjeswaram," he alleged.
